High-density environmental DNA metabarcoding reveals fine-scale three-dimensional structure of a fish community in a semi-closed bay

In Maizuru Bay, eDNA metabarcoding detected 216 fish species, with mean richness dropping from 28.4 at the surface to 16.4 at the bottom across three depth layers.

• Why it matters: Coastal fish communities vary across horizontal and vertical space, but their fine-scale three-dimensional structure is still poorly resolved, limiting ecosystem monitoring.
• What they did: At 100 stations in Maizuru Bay, researchers sampled 300 eDNA samples across three depth layers and used concurrent hydrography to test links to assemblage composition.
• The result: Depth, position, and measured environmental variables were associated with composition but explained only 13.0% overall, while spatial position contributed 2.9% versus depth 0.8% and environment 0.9%.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.